Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria is located in east central Africa bordering the countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It is also the largest lake in Africa and the largest tropical lake in the entire world with a surface area of 26,600 square miles. This lake is named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

It is one of the African Great Lakes. It is estimated to be around 400,000 years old. This lake has a maximum depth of 84 meters and an average depth of 40 meters. It contains 2,750 cubic kilometers of water.

Quick Facts: –

John Hanning Speke was the first European to view the lake. He traveled to the lake in 1858.

It has a shoreline of 3,440 kilometers and has more than 3,000 different islands. Ukerewe is the largest island.

It is the second largest freshwater lake in the entire world after the Lake Superior which is located in North America.

There are two rivers that flow out of the lake: the White Nile which is also known as the Victoria Nile and the Katonga River.

There are many archipelagos in the lake. There are several reefs as well that are just below the water surface.

The basin area of the lake covers around 184,000 square kilometers.

Two dams, Kiira and Nalubaale dams have been built on the Victoria Nile and the lake’s water is used in the production of hydroelectricity.

The massive amount of water in the lake is mostly rainwater. It gets 80% of the total water supply from rain.

Many different bird species can be spotted along the lake’s coastline and on its islets.